Light treatment of patients for various conditions is becoming well known. Light treatment of injuries such as sport injuries, sprains and the like, light treatment of chronic conditions such as arthritis, sciatica and various related conditions, and treatment of chronic slow healing wounds or sores, are all well known.
The principle of all these light treatments is the application of low intensity light radiating in the area of the patient's condition. It is found that in order to be effective, the light source should be close in contact with the skin. One such light source may comprise an array or panel of low intensity light emitting diodes, or in some cases low level laser. It is also found that the treatment becomes more effective if it is applied over longer periods of time. In some cases the light sources are left in contact with the skin for thirty to sixty minutes. In the case of low level laser, the light source is often a single light source, and it may be applied for a few minutes at each of many locations in the area of the body to be treated. The deep penetration of the light rays into the tissues, produces the healing results experienced.
In the past, treatment of patients with light therapy has involved as a partial component of the treatment protocol, the use of a laser light treatment head or probe. This was connected to a computer. The computer contained programs for programming the operation of the light laser treatment probe and would regulate the therapy. It would also record the length of therapy and the location and compile records of treatment. The probe was held in the hand of a therapist who directed the probe onto various locations in the area of the body for treatment.
While the system had advantages in the sense of capturing information immediately, it had the disadvantage that the probe, and thus therapist and the patient were, as it were, all tied to the computer. Consequently, the treatment of a single patient would involve a laser light treatment probe, a therapist, and a dedicated computer. This greatly increased the cost of the laser light therapy treatment. In addition, it reduced the ability of a clinic to service a number of patients simultaneously. As a result, while the investment in any given clinic, for a given number of patents on a per patient basis was high, the return on investment was low, since it was possible to treat only a limited number of patients at one time.
Clearly, it is desirable to provide a system in which the laser light probe therapy can be provided to a variety of different patients in a given clinic, without the necessity for providing a connection between each treatment probe and a computer.